The global chemical market suffers from unplanned plant shutdowns. The reason is that excessive heat produced must be removed to prevent thermal runaway and explosion. This runaway risk is evaluated by plant operators but cannot be objectified because they lack scientific models. Hence, plant operators shut down the plant instead. This also means complicated safety designs and exacerbated costs.

We want to objectify this risk using scientific models. This leads to more elegant and easier-to-maintain safety designs. They will lead to a safer, more competitive industry. We’ll focus on polystyrene production in continuous reactors, because we have prior expertise. Our models for isothermal batch polymerization can be extended to non-isothermal continuous polymerization, which are relevant towards industry and UGent’s valorisation strategy.

The societal value creation stems from cutting out expensive middlemen (e.g. safety licensors, who maximize safety testing and overdesign process safety equipment), thereby freeing up capital for novel processes for sustainable chemicals.